The Musings of a Wandering Stranger.

Sorry about the outages, evidently an ice storm is messing with the connection.

“We are carnival, we are Bahia. We are the world of carnival, we are BAHIA!!!”

Sorry about the delay in posting this, between two days of heavy classes with papers and Neptune day all day yesterday.

So, starting with Salvador de Bahia, it was one of the most interesting places I have ever visited. As is becoming a tradition, many people including me were awake and on deck at 5:30 to watch the sun rise over the city as we pulled into port. Thanks to the Breedloves I was able to go to a camarote (a viewing stand for carnival) on the first night after an amazing dinner at an all you can eat Brazilian barbeque. (Evidently, there is also one in Birmingham I am going to visit when I return) At the restaurant, they bring around HUGE pieces of meat on skewers and they slice a piece of each cut off for you to try. They have everything from lamb, chicken, filet minion, and chicken hearts (yes I ate some). Then after arriving back on the ship and catching up on some much needed sleep. The next day some friends and I walked around the old Pelourinho district. This is an old part of town that has very narrow and steep roads, many unique shops, and food. The food is a whole story in and of itself. On the street, there are so many kinds of food, from meat on a stick, to churros filled with caramel. My favorite is the friend bean cake called acaroje that’s fried in a palm oil, cut open and filled with peppers, shrimp, some spicy stuff. (Mrs. P, correct all my horrible spelling of these words.) There was also some cheese on a stick (see a pattern) that is cooked over hot coals while you wait.
However, I digress from the main point, Salvador was amazing, and is defiantly not anything like I have every seen. The language barrier was something that could be overcome with an earnest attempt and a slight knowledge of Spanish, and you can usually limp your way though a Portuguese restaurant, or bartering with merchant in the marcado. At the marcado, I bought some amazing things. A local soccer jersey for US$10, a painting and wood carving for around US$8 apiece, an amazing hand carved wooden ship for US$4, a cloth hammock (yes a hammock) for US$12, and a large brimmed and baseball cap for US$5 apiece. It was a blast just to barter with some of the local merchants. For example the one I bought the ship from originally wanted roughly R$40 (R$1 is roughly 50 cents, so two to one) for the ship, I said no, and asked about the smaller ones which he wanted R$20 for. Eventually he was down to R$8 for the medium one.
After the marcado, we went back to the ship and rested for a while before heading back to the elevator to the Pelourinho to participate in carnival. Up there is was night and day from the other evening. It was more of a chilled, laid back atmosphere, with street vendors selling food and drinks. African bands and dancers wandered the street with the crowds dancing behind them. Unfortunately, while up there I had a few dollars (R$15 or so) and a disposable camera that stolen off of me.
The next day Mr. Breedlove gave me a tour of the city, including the fort, a few churches, and the best ice-cream place in the city. That day, exhausted from the night before we went to the beach to relax, and then that night went out to dinner and crashed early.
On our last full day in port, we explored the city some more, touring San Francisco (a amazing church, with an unbelievable amount of gold leaf) and a few other places, went back to the marcado with some friends. That night was one of the most fun nights I have ever had though. We had an SAS trip to Trio Electrico, which are massive sound trucks with bands on top and another truck following that was nicknamed the B&B; Bathrooms and Bar. Surrounding the trucks are probably roughly 200 security people holding a rope, to get inside the rope you need a special t-shirt that is unique to that band on that night. With SAS, we had shirts for Areketu, which is an African percussion based band. We danced and sang inside the rope for what seemed like 10 minutes when in real life is was closer to three and a half hours.
After a long needed nights sleep we set out on our last few hours in Salvador, visiting the Marcado, trying to find a post office (still all closed due to Ash Wednesday and Carnival), and calling home. (I’ll call in the next few days again mom) I went out to dinner with Dia (the registrar) Shayla (another staff member), Shenkay (a girl from Japan) and her roommate. We went back to the Brazilian barbeque and had an amazing meal and a great time.
I apologize for the lack of photos from Bahia, as it was not safe to carry my camera. That I carried everything I need in my socks, hat, and a few small bills in my pocket.
After two LOOOOOOONG days of classes, and two papers later its Neptune day! We were woken up by some of the crew banging on drums and chanting while roaming the halls at 7:30am. Following them to the deck, everyone gathered and kind Neptune (the captain painted in green) appeared. Everyone who chose to celebrate our transformation from pollywogs to shellbacks, those who have crossed the equator on a ship, first had fish guts dumped on them, then had to swim across the pool, kiss a fish, then kiss Neptune’s ring. Then those brave or stupid enough had their heads shaved, the list included me, a lot of guys, and at least 30 women, some with VERY long hair, which was donated to locks of love. One girl Lindsey donated over 18 inches.
To round out the day, they cooked an auctual, over charcoal, barbeque on deck for us with burgers and ribs and chicken and corn. It was amazing.

That’s all for now, I’ll update with the pictures I have from Salvador and Neptune day later on tonight (early morning your time) when the internet picks up speed as everyone goes to sleep. Also, we are now on GMT, and Michigan is -5GMT. Cape Town is +2 GMT so we have to lose two more hours of sleep sometime soon. We’ve moved our clocks ahead 3 days in a row and lack of sleep is catching up with many including myself. So, I apologize for the poor grammar and chaotic train of thought.

For those tracking the position of the ship, they have started posting regular updates on semester at seas website, the link is: http://semesteratsea.com/voyages/spring2007/sp2007_positionreport.html

We crossed the equator around noon ship time today. Neptune day and the traditional headshaving wont occur until the 24th. (yes, i’ll be shaving my head and purchasing a bottle of SPF50)
Only Two and a half days to Salvador, Brazil!!!!!

Now for the quote of the day.

As we cross the equator

“I can’t see the green line, I thougth it would be yellow like on the NFL.”
-Drew
as he looked out the window to try and find the green line thats on maps.

…And that’s a day I’ll never forget
As the cab crossed the bridge from Paradise Island to the shipyard, I couldn’t see the MV Explorer. It was completely overshadowed by a Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise liners. It all didn’t seem real as the ship finally came into view and the cab pulled up the curb and I began to comprehend what I had really signed up for. As I unloaded my luggage and tipped the cab driver, I was surprised that I was the third one in line, only an hour before check in was scheduled. Over the next forty minutes people poured in from every direction and the line was soon as long as the terminal building.
After a thorough search of all my bags and some paperwork I standing in my cabin unpacking and talking to my new roommate Garrett. We spent the next few hours exploring the ships myriad of halls, computer labs, classrooms, and the library, before making the way to the top deck and the pool. The pool is not that much of a pool in all reality but more a break from the intense sun. My cabin is small, but manageable. Our cabin steward is Ray, and is originally Philippians. Every day he makes our beds, straightens up the room, vacuums, and cleans the bathroom. As a whole the crew are some of the most proud, dedicated, and professional people that I have ever met and are always willing to answer even the most mundane questions and helped us fix our ceiling that sprung a leak in the middle of the night.
The ship itself is a work of art, and it is really just starting to fully sink in that this is my home for the next three months and that I am traveling the entire circumference of the planet. You really begin to realize this when you try to walk down the hall and you are weaving, using the handrails and bumping into each other. The seas have been calm but because of the size of the ship, she rolls and pitches a fair amount. After the first night though you don’t feel it too much anymore except when it sways heavily. And they keep telling us that these are mild seas.
The people I have met so far are amazing, I’ve been spending allot of time with a small group of friends (all but one is in the picture). Allot of us share classes besides global studies (everyone on the ship must take global studies at the same time, all record setting 702 of us.)

So far my classes seem very interesting and unique but at the same time they are at a level of difficulty I haven’t seen before. The professors are clearly at the top of their class, for that matter every member of the staff I have talked to has their own unique twist to each of their curriculums. I would love to have the ability to sit in and audit some of the classes, but unfortunately, there are only so many hours in a day (and I’ve already lost one to the merciless time zones.) The night before we arrived in Puerto Rico. Some of us decided to camp out on the back deck of the ship and sleep in the lounge chairs. This went really well until people started to get cold and then the crew had to wash the deck at 4:30am. Despite the utter lack of sleep, we still made it out to see the sunrise over the ocean as the ship entered the Puerto Rican Harbor. It was an absolutely breath taking site.
Later that day I set out to the rainforest for a two-hour hike through the rainforest. Unfortunately the rainforest in Puerto Rico actually houses relatively few animal species compared to the Amazon or other rain forests so It was more of a nature walk and really wasn’t too much exercise, On the positive side, it was an absolutely amazing place and I shot some great photos. Later that night we had a welcome reception with some of local university students. At the reception, they had a live band and the students taught us to salsa dance. After the reception, we went out dancing with several of the local students. The next day I spend most of it hiking around old San Juan and exploring the local shops and restaurants and talking to some locals. That night we kayaked through a bioluminescent bay. This was one of the coolest sights I have ever seen. Unfortunately, there was no way to take photos.
While Puerto Rico was an amazing nation. I am anxious to get onto Brazil to see carnival and get to a less touristy area.
I’ll post more from Brazil after our 6 days at sea.
All Coordinates taken at approximately 8AM Ships time (changes in ships time are noted) 2.5.07 (first day at sea) 23 37.54N Lat 073 24.42W Long Speed 11.1 knots course 126 magnetic 2.6.07 (second day at sea) 21 4.64N Lat 069 44.45W Long speed 10.6 knots course 127 lost 1 hour 2.7.07 (Puerto Rico) 18 27.65N Lat 066 5.56W Long

2.10.07
16 50.96N Lat
064 5.74W Long
Speed 10.8 Knots
Course 128

The ships internet is being really really slow, so i am going to post a large journal tonight really late after most people are asleep, so expect there to be one with plenty of pictures in the morning.

In the mean time check out all the semester at sea photos at this address
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gitgat/sets/72157594519426579/

“A ship is safe in harbor, but thats not what its made for.”

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain